Thirty Days of Thanks and Giving.
DAY 14: TODAY’S TEMPERATURE
Every morning when I walk into work I have to stop at the temperature station. In the shadow of COVID, one of the precautions requires that the thermometer reads below 100° or entry into the building is denied. I’m a substitute teacher. Students think I’m cold-blooded if not completely heartless. I get where they’re coming from, I gotta keep my game face on to do this job. Sometimes this goofy thermometer is malfunctioning and I actually think it confirms their belief. I’ll get what I call the “I’m dead” reading and consider writing it on the sign in sheet. Then I think of the poor administrators that have to keep up with all of this and I just zap that thing at my forehead again.
The daily temp check reminds me of my daily walk with God. Sometimes I run cold. I hold on to emptiness and chilling thoughts and my heart suffers from carelessness. Sometimes I run hot. I pray and I read Scripture but I don’t really pay attention to what I’m hearing or saying. I spin around and around with the same thoughts and concerns until I overheat and burn out. These are signs of spiritual sickness that isn’t transmitted through the air or contact. It’s a heart problem. My heart needs to settle down, pay attention, and register normal when I take my spiritual temperature.
I’m thankful for the thermometer that keeps our building safe. I’m thankful that it gives me a reading on my health. I’m also thankful for the Holy Spirit nudging me when my spiritual temperature is out of normal range. What’s your temperature? Are you avoiding or ignoring nudges from the Spirit? Is your walk a little chilly? Are you unnecessarily fretting and stressing and risking burnout? Be careful. Check your temperature. Be sensitive to what needs said or heard and stay healthy.
Riverbrat 